Friday, July 29, 2011

Watering for Survival

Tree Gator

Water is the life blood of plants. When they cannot get enough they suffer. Signs of this suffering include wilting, brown leaves, and dead stems and branches. Drought stricken plants may eventually die from lack of water or pest problems that infect them as a result of being under drought stress. Watering plants can help them survive, but during extreme drought no one can afford to water everything in their yard. Setting priorities and watering for survival will help you keep the most important plants in your landscape healthy.

It is not realistic to try to keep everything in your yard alive through extreme drought. Instead gardeners should set priorities and focus their watering efforts on those plants that are most valuable and likely to perform well in the future. Survival watering involves targeting water applications to only high priority plants and applying water so it soaks deeply into the soil. Treegators are special bags for watering newly planted trees and shrubs that are designed to slowly release water into the soil. Slow, deep watering is especially important during drought. You can achieve similar results using soaker hoses or buckets with holes in the bottoms.

For more suggestions on how you can conserve water at home and in your yard, take the 40 Gallon Challenge. On the program’s website, www.40gallonchallenge.org, you can pledge to adopt water-saving practices and see how many gallons of water you can expect to save.

Learn more about indoor and outdoor water conservation from these great resources: